Country music really is a powerful thing. It unites fans, and it brings bands together too. Jess and the Bandits are the living proof.

Frontwoman Jessica Clemmons, the singer-songwriter from Houston, Texas with the big voice and the warm personality, bonded with the four Brits who make up the Bandits over their mutual love of the music. Now they’re turning that shared affection into some of the most accessible country-pop-rock of the year.

Jessica is the sort of engaging and effusive performer that wins a truckload of new admirers at every performance, not to mention on every recording, hence the response she’s had all over the place in her second home on this side of the Atlantic. It happens every time, from the stage of the Country 2 Country Festival at London’s 02 Arena in March, to the support she’s won from BBC Radio 2.

Now, at the helm of the five-piece band, she’s ready to take things up another gear. To lift a phrase from Jess and the Bandits’ feelgood single ‘My Name Is Trouble,’ this country girl can rock your world, but she can take it slow, too. “We got a little of that country-rock feel, and then we’ve got those really pretty country ballad sort of songs,” says Jessica. “I spent ten days in Nashville hoping to write enough songs, and left with more than I could put on the record. I’m really excited about it.”